The Citigroup strategy team needed a strategy to compete in the online direct banking marketplace. They approached Critical Mass and asked for a vision of what Citibank would be if it were in the online direct banking space. What would it look like? What features could they offer to be competitive?

Persona and market research tools such as ethnography were conducted to deep dive into the experience of online direct banking. The competitive research was conducted to find SWOT and strategy around how to anticipate the readiness of business. The Citibank global style guide was followed to develop an identity and consistent brand personalities, ensuring a direct connection and brand familiarity for the user to quickly get familiar with and trust the new business direction.

The successful organizational collaborative effort exposed concerns and proposed strategies that were adopted for cross-business and cross-product implementation. The learning from this project increased the overall value of Citibank’s other products and its brand.